Recipe from Harry Rosenblum
Adapted by Tejal Rao
- Total Time
- 10 minutes, plus about 2 months' fermenting
- Rating
- 4(152)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This simple recipe for homemade vinegar comes from Harry Rosenblum, a founder of the Brooklyn Kitchen and the author of “Vinegar Revival.” To make it, you’ll need a little raw, live, unpasteurized vinegar, or a vinegar mother (which you can buy online, or pick up from a vinegar-making friend). Be sure to aerate the wine before you start, which helps get it ready to ferment, and remember that the timeline in the recipe is a only a guide: The best way to get a sense what’s happening as your alcohol transforms into vinegar is to observe it and taste it frequently. Instead of red wine, you can also try the recipe with a rosé, sake, hard cider or your favorite beer. Just keep in mind that if the beverage has an alcohol content of 8 percent or lower, there’s no need to add water at the beginning. —Tejal Rao
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Ingredients
Yield:About 1½ quarts
- 1750-milliliter bottle of good red wine
- ½ cup live raw vinegar, or vinegar mother
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
82 calories; 0 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 0 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 2 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 1 gram sugars; 0 grams protein; 4 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Pour the wine into a clean, wide-mouthed half-gallon glass jar. Put the lid on and shake it well to aerate the wine. Remove lid, and add drinking water until the jar is about three-quarters full, along with the live raw vinegar or mother. Cover the jar with cheesecloth and keep the cloth in place with a rubber band.
Step
2
Leave the jar undisturbed in a dark place at room temperature for 3 to 4 weeks, checking regularly to see that a vinegar mother (a translucent, gelatinous disk) is growing on the surface, and no mold is forming. (If you see green, black or white mold, scrape it off; if it grows back, throw out the mixture and start over.) You should begin to smell vinegar after a few weeks, and can taste it every week or so to monitor the fermentation.
Step
3
After about 2 months, when the alcohol has acidified, or when a taste of the vinegar makes your mouth pucker, it's ready to strain and bottle. (You can save the mother to begin a new batch.) The vinegar can be used as is, or aged in the bottle for up to a year to mellow its flavor.
Ratings
4
out of 5
152
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Cooking Notes
Annie
Mya mama, born and raised in the Naples, Italy, would make vinegar with left over wine in the simplest way imaginable and it worked every time without fail.She would simply add a few macherone to the bottle, whatever she had on hand, sometimes elbows sometimes ziti, let it sit for about 2 months.The best tasting vinegar you could imagine, rich and full bodied.Of course the macherone would turn mushy, must be removed before using the vinegar.She strained the liquid through cheesecloth before use.
Susan
Can you elaboate...cooked or raw pasta, approximately how much and did she seal bottle or cover with cheesecoth? Thanks!
JRussell
What do you mean by pasteurize it? Are you doing this after the mixture becomes vinegar, or right away when you mix the wine with the raw vinegar?
PF
I've made vinegar a few times, and after the first batch, I learned the hard way to pasteurize it at 150°. The best one I made was with some dead Champagne.
Lynn
Do not ever continue a fermentation if mold grows on your mother.
BklynMom
I've read that ideal vinegar is made from 7-10% alcohol, so if you're starting with a red wine at 15%, then dilute with water equal to about 1/3 the volume of wine. I can't find that article, but here's another that seems pretty scientific... https://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2008-12/making-vinegar-home -- these guys say to "add a splash of water"
Robbie
Once it's become vinegar, you heat it to 150°, otherwise it will continue to ferment, which isn't bad for you but is visually unappealing. I never pasteurize my homemade vinegar.
Tondar
It does not have to be a "good" wine. Any red will will do. It is going to be acidified anyway. Trader Joe's "2 buck Chuck" will be more than sufficent.
Diana Smyth
I've made this several times, and am on my way to my 4th batch. I have made this out of red wine, white wine, and jun kombucha.I now starting a sparkling rose.
shantal
I used about 5 different bottles of the cheapest wine I could find. One of the bottles was on the counter, 1/4 full, for months and the vinegar was fantastic. I didn't add water. I'm making a batch from the mother from the first batch and it seems to doing just as well. The vinegar is light and so flavorful, even though the wine was (some of it) pretty rank.
Danny
From what I’ve been reading online, the gelatinous membrane is the pellicle, the discharge from the fermentation process that tells you it’s working, not the mother. The mother is simply some of those goopy bits floating around your raw ACV so evident in a brand like Braggs.
Tondar
It does not have to be a "good" wine. Any red will will do. It is going to be acidified anyway. Trader Joe's "2 buck Chuck" will be more than sufficent.
Jennifer
Any tips on the aging process? After I strain off the mother should I store in a glass container? What kind of cap? Plastic? Cork?
Jacob
I’m following this recipe and no mold is forming- but neither is any vinegar mother (it’s been 2 months). It does smell like vinegar. Thoughts?
Tom sfba
Important to add water to high alcohol wine, but not too much. Another commenter has discussed this issue.Keep the vinegar-to-be above 75F and 95F or below.Stir it to oxygenate it. This proved to be an important step.As long as it smells like vinegar, it’s heading in the right direction. One batch, from a bottle that already seemed like vinegar, took six months. About four months in, I added some fruity cabernet, and that helped it along. It was the most delicious yet.
Cara
Could I use a scoby from kombucha for the mother?
Biggtree
Storing Your VinegarOnce ready for storage - put in separate, capped containers. Stored vinegar will stay in excellent condition almost indefinitely if it is pasteurized. To pasteurize, heat the vinegar before pouring it into sterilized bottles, or bottle, then place in a hot water bath. In both cases, the temperature of the vinegar must reach at least 140 degrees F to pasteurize the product, and should not exceed 160 degrees F. Use a cooking thermometer to ensure the correct temperature
Quinn
I misread 1/2 cup vinegar for 1 cup! Oops.
Quinn
DebC: I believe the ratio for this works out to about 3/4 cup water to every 1 cup wine. 750 ml wine 120 ml vinegar 550 ml water = about 3/4 of a half gallon. Very roughly, but from what I've read very forgiving. Still waiting to see results of first batch.
Annie
Mya mama, born and raised in the Naples, Italy, would make vinegar with left over wine in the simplest way imaginable and it worked every time without fail.She would simply add a few macherone to the bottle, whatever she had on hand, sometimes elbows sometimes ziti, let it sit for about 2 months.The best tasting vinegar you could imagine, rich and full bodied.Of course the macherone would turn mushy, must be removed before using the vinegar.She strained the liquid through cheesecloth before use.
Susan
Can you elaboate...cooked or raw pasta, approximately how much and did she seal bottle or cover with cheesecoth? Thanks!
Lynn
Do not ever continue a fermentation if mold grows on your mother.
Deb C
If I’m starting with a partial bottle of wine, not a full 750 ml, what would be the proportions of the wine to water?
BklynMom
I've read that ideal vinegar is made from 7-10% alcohol, so if you're starting with a red wine at 15%, then dilute with water equal to about 1/3 the volume of wine. I can't find that article, but here's another that seems pretty scientific... https://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2008-12/making-vinegar-home -- these guys say to "add a splash of water"
PF
I've made vinegar a few times, and after the first batch, I learned the hard way to pasteurize it at 150°. The best one I made was with some dead Champagne.
JRussell
What do you mean by pasteurize it? Are you doing this after the mixture becomes vinegar, or right away when you mix the wine with the raw vinegar?
Robbie
Once it's become vinegar, you heat it to 150°, otherwise it will continue to ferment, which isn't bad for you but is visually unappealing. I never pasteurize my homemade vinegar.
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